Pages

Monday, November 29, 2010

Thanksgiving is over, let the madness of Christmas begin. But before I start making yummy winter foods, I have some pie recipes that I made for Thanksgiving that I am going to share this week. These pies would also be a great addition to a Christmas party. Today's is a super yummy apple pie, the best part is the caramel, it adds a little extra sweetness.

2. Crumb Topping - Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter, then add in brown sugar, oats, and ¼ teaspoon salt.

2. Add apples to prepared pie shell and top with crumb topping. Cover crust edges with aluminum foil and bake on a cookie sheet in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil from crust and place back into the oven for another 30 minutes.

3. Remove the pie from the oven and pour ½ jar of caramel topping over the top. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

I decided I was going to make something for Brent to take to work for the people he works with seen as how today was the last day before the Thanksgiving break. I was planning on taking them down around 4 when he called me and told me that he would be getting off at 4 because they were shutting the university down. WHAT? I didn't know universities shut down, AND I have 3 dozen Whoopie Pies! I was definitely more concerned about the cookies than why the school was shutting down. But apparently there is a huge snow storm coming and we have to get all of our candles and flashlights ready in case the power goes out. All I could think was what am I going to do with all of the cookies! So if you are reading this, I have them and they are yours if you want.

**update, as of 10pm there was no storm. It was cold, but no storm, and I still have given away no cookies.

These are definitely the softest cookies I have ever had. They are really simple to make and don't take a lot of time. Oh, and they are delish!

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves; set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together brown sugar and oil until well combined. Add pumpkin puree and whisk until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk until well combined. Sprinkle flour mixture over pumpkin mixture and whisk until fully incorporated.

3. Using a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism, drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Transfer to oven and bake until cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of each cookie comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely on pan.

Make the filling:

Sift confectioner' sugar into a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth. Add cream cheese and beat until well combined. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla, beat just until smooth. (Filling can be made up to a day in advance. Cover and refrigerate; let stand at room temperature to soften before using.)

Assemble the whoopie pies:

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Transfer filling to a disposable pastry bag and snip the end. When cookies have cooled completely, pipe a large dollop of filling on the flat side of half of the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edge of the cookies. Transfer to prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate cookies at least 30 minutes before serving and up to 3 days.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

3. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled). Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

4. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in pan.

5. Lift cake from pan (using foil as an aid). Peel off foil, and use a serrated knife to cut into 24 squares.

Friday, November 19, 2010

We were going to visit my cousins, who just happen to be very big boys, and the idea that I could try a recipe and not have any left over to bring home is all the motivation I need to try something new. I went to Costco and saw all of the apples and decided that an apple dessert sounded really good. This is really easy and is worth the work to cut up the apples into little bits. This is the perfect fall dessert!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

For this first post I decided that simply because the name of my blog is what it is, its only fitting that the first post be cupcakes. That's when I got a call to make cupcakes for a friends baby shower. So I scoured the internet to find a recipe and found the perfect one.

These are not just any cupcakes mind you, they are one of the most moist, delicious cupcakes I have had in a very, very long time. Red Velvet. I am sure everybody has had red velvet before but I had never been so lucky. So after searching high and low, after looking at all of the reviews on several different sites I found it. I also read along the way that the perfect frosting to go with red velvet cake is cream cheese. So that recipe follows the cupcake recipe. These are a perfect dessert. Who doesn't love cupcakes?

2. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a smaller bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste without lumps and set aside.

3. In a large bowl beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go. Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula.

4. In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. Be careful as it will fizz so don't do it in a shallow bowl. Add vinegar mixture to the cake batter and stir well to combine. Fill cupcake cups with cake batter until they are a 2/3 full. I ended up with 17 cupcakes. Place muffin tins in your preheated oven. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. The cupcakes are done when you can insert a toothpick into the center of a cupcake in the center of the tin and it comes out clean!

5. Cool the cupcakes in their tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes then remove and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup Butter

8 oz Cream Cheese, Softened

3 cups Powdered Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

All of the ingredients need to be at room temperature. In a mixing bowl, mix butter on medium speed until light and creamy. Add cream cheese and mix until fluffy. Slowly add the sugar one cup at a time. Finally add the vanilla and mix until creamy.